Everyone Was Safe
by CloveEngland
Summary: During the Battle of Hogwarts, what if Molly didn't step in and kill Bellatrix when she attacked Ginny? And that's how Harry finds her afterward; injured. One-shot. I don't own Harry Potter. Rated K because I'm paranoid.


"Avada Kedavra!" Bellatrix shouted, flicking her wand. Ginny reacted quickly, just barely missing the killing curse, staring rigid in shock at the Death Eater. Bellatrix's smile fell into a harsh, angry glare and she advanced towards the youngest Weasley, her wand pointed at Ginevra. The twisted smile returned and she cackled evilly.

"Ah, a fighter I see. Little Ginny Weasley wants to fight, eh? Well, I can give you a fight, if that's what you want, Ginevra!" Bellatrix screeched maniacally, and flicked her wand again with a deft snap of the wrist, casting the Cruciatus curse at the unprepared Ginny. Ginny crumpled to the ground, her eyes wide, screaming and writhing in pain. The war around her drowned out the sounds of her screams, weaving them into the sounds of the others. Everyone was in their own fight. No one would be able to help her.

Bellatrix continued to torture Ginny mercilessly, her eyes cold and her twisted smile growing larger as she cackled a high-pitched, bone-chilling laugh. Ginny cried out, screaming. Just when she thought she couldn't take anymore, Bellatrix stopped. She attempted to cast the Sectumsempra spell at Ginny's head, but she rolled sideways just in time. The spell hit her arm, forming a large, ugly gash in it, which began bleeding a lot, the blood forming a pool underneath Ginny's helpless body.

This went on for a while, Bellatrix casting harmful spells at Ginny's vital areas- chest, head, et cetera- and Ginny just barely dodging them by rolling away from the spell from where she lay in agony on the cold hard ground. When someone finally came to Ginny's aid, killing and silencing the great Bellatrix Lestrange once and for all, Ginny was covered in wounds. Not only was she covered in spell-caused rooms, but black, blue, purple and green bruises were blossoming all over her body from where she had thrashed around and hit the ground. Her ankle was especially swollen and black.

Ginny wasn't able to see who killed Bellatrix and saved her; she was in too much pain to notice any intricate details like that. She blacked out a few moments after she saw the demise of the awful woman who had tortured and killed so many innocent people in an attempt to impress the great Dark Lord Voldemort. She had but one thought before her mind went blank. _'Hurry up and kill Voldemort, Harry.'_

Meanwhile, outside in the courtyard, Harry and Voldemort were battling it out to the death, Voldemort's green Avada Kedavra curse fighting for dominance over Harry's shimmering red disarming curse. The two held onto their wands tightly, the strings of magic having a fight of their own, each wand trying to hold on more than the other for their master.

But that was just it- Voldemort wasn't the elder wand's master. The truth was the elder wand belonged to Harry all along. It had never belonged to Voldemort, not once. Of course, both wands seemed to know this deep down, because just then, the magic shot back towards Lord Voldemort, ready to kill the monster and stop him from harming more people. A look of shock crossed his determined face, and then morphed into a look of fear and disbelief that Harry, a child, could defeat him.

Harry's face looked shocked too, and he looked at his wand, then at Voldemort, who's cry was cut off as he broke apart, floating off into the wind like soft pieces of tissue paper. Immense joy and accomplishment settled over Harry, and like that the horrid war was over. He ran inside to announce the news, but it seemed that the Death Eaters had already sensed it and knew, because they were flooding out and running for their lives from the others.

Everything was a blur to Harry. People swarmed around him, patting him on the back, high fiving him, congratulating him, trying to get his attention and talk to him. But he couldn't pay attention to any of it. He only wanted to know if they were okay- Ron, Hermione- his two best friends who he couldn't live without- and the rest of the Weasleys, especially _her, Ginny. _He felt worry blossom through him. She had to be alive. He was alive. They could be together again; it was all over, they could be a couple again.

He found Ron and Hermione and they hugged each other, Hermione laughing happily and Ron grinning broadly. They congratulated him like everyone else, telling him they knew he could do it. And he thanked them of course, and hugged them both many more times before he finally let out the question he just had to know the answer to, the question with an answer that he was sure could potentially change his life.

"Ron, Hermione…" He asked, his voice shaking as he forced back the oncoming fear and worry, trying to reassure himself that she was alive, even though he didn't know for sure that she was, "Do either of you… do either of you know where Ginny is? Is she okay?" Ron looked down and Harry could see that tears were forming in the corner of his friend's eyes, and Hermione's face fell as she put a comforting hand on her boyfriend's shoulder.

Hermione's next words came out as a forced, choked sound, and Harry went rigid when she said, "Bellatrix… Bellatrix Lestrange got her. She's in the hospital ward, Harry. They don't know if she's going to live or not." Harry didn't risk talking for fear that he would break down in tears in front of all the people who thought he was the bravest, most honorable person in the world, because he was, wasn't he?

Harry merely nodded and whispered to them, "I have to see her." He ran past them, pushing through the sea of people, young and old, rejoicing over their wins and mourning over their horrible losses, looking for the familiar redheaded girl who he had dated for a while before he had to go on the run to find the Horcruxes.

He finally found the love of his life on a hospital bed. Bill and Molly stood on either side of the bed, looking down mournfully at the youngest of the Weasley clan. Harry pushed past a few more people to reach them, knowing that the other Weasleys were probably with Fred, who had unfortunately been killed in the war. Molly and Bill looked at Harry as he walked up, and they respectfully gave him space, going to join the others with the unfortunate Fred.

Harry knelt beside Ginny, feeling tears sliding down his face as he choked back hideous sobs. He grasped her hand, taking in her awful appearance. Her face was covered in bruises. There were terrible gashes all over her abdomen and arms. Her hair was caked with dirt and blood, but wasn't everybody's? Her ankle was twisted and swollen, her hands covered in tiny paper-cut like cuts, as well as her face.

Her clothes were drenched in blood from the gashes on her abdomen and arms. Her eyebrows were knit together, her face contorted as though she was fighting off immense pain. Tears were sliding down her cheeks, even though she seemed to be unconscious, leaving thin tracks through the dirt covering her face. Her breathing was shallow and uneven. Nurses came and went, applying different remedies to her wounds, none of which seemed to do anything to help much.

"Oh Ginny," Harry mumbled through his crying, "My sweet Ginny. I should have been there for you. I should have saved you. This is completely my fault. I never wanted anybody to get hurt for me. This isn't fair!" He sat up suddenly when he saw the fragile girl stir slightly. He held her hand tighter and said, "Please wake up. Please wake up, Ginny, for me."

She opened her eyes slowly and a huge smile crossed Harry's face. She looked around a little before seeing Harry next to her and giving a weak smile. Her smile then turned into a wince of pain. A nurse hurried over, carrying multiple different potions in her arms, and said, "Oh good, Ginevra Weasley, you're awake."

The nurse gently pushed Harry out of the way and handed each potion to Ginny one at a time, having her drink every one. Harry counted seven of them. The nurse briefly explained every one; a few were for pain, but most of them were to cure the effects of the many torturing spells cast on Ginny. The nurse hurried off to tend to others that were injured in the war after she made sure Ginny had drunk each potion.

Harry held tightly to Ginny's hand and said, "I'm so sorry Ginny. I should have helped. I'm so, so sorry that this happened to you." Ginny shook her head, trying to look strong, but her eyes betrayed the pain it brought her to do so. Harry's heart broke a little when he saw the pain flash quickly in her eyes for a moment as she moved her head.

"It… wasn't your fault Harry… I should've… been quicker…" she said in a weak voice. "Bellatrix… she tortured me… then she just sat there and hurt me… like it was a game… it hurt… it still hurts so much… but Harry, it wasn't your fault… It wasn't." Her voice was broken, and she took many ragged, gasping breaths between the phrases of her words.

"There was nothing you could do." Harry said softly, placing a kiss on the only part of her face that wasn't bruised. She gave him a small but weak smile and then closed her eyes, letting out a sigh that held many emotions in it. The sigh was mournful, relieved, fearful, and many other emotions, all in one sound.

She said in a defeated sounding voice, "Can we talk after I've gotten out of this place, and hopefully when I'm not in such bad shape?" Harry nodded, happy to oblige, and refusing to let go of her hand, he lay his head on the edge of the bed, falling asleep there as she fell asleep too, knocked out from the effects of all of the different potions she had been told to take.

Ginny was transported to St. Mungo's the next day, where she had to stay in treatment for a week. The gashes refused to heal, and the nurses were about to give up and declare her handicapped for the rest of her life when they finally started to close up. Her ankle was a different story. It healed surprisingly easily, but it was clear that Ginny would always have a limp. The doctors said that it would get better over time, possibly to the point where it would be hardly noticeable when she was an adult, but would still be there nonetheless.

When Ginny was finally let out of the wizard hospital, they had a proper funeral for Fred, and celebrated the return of Ginevra. Harry and Ginny both knew that they needed to have that talk, to sort everything out. But that was for later, they knew. Things had yet to full calm down after the war at the Weasley household.

After another week or so, things were getting back on track. Life at the Weasley's house became routine for Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and everyone else. Harry and Ginny knew that it was time without telling each other. They simply knew. So one night, Harry knocked on the door to Ginny's room. She opened the door, dark rings under her eyes showing her lack of sleep- Harry knew she'd been suffering from nightmares since her return from St. Mungo's.

He helped her walk outside, under the moonlight, and they sat down side by side, looking up at the stars together in blissful silence, watching the twinkling of the distant lights in the sky far above them. They sat like that for a good few minutes before Harry felt like he ought to break the silence.

"We need to talk," he said softly, "It's been a _year. _A whole year, Ginny, since we've seen each other." She nodded, looking at him. His face was drawn, his expression appearing rather taut, and he was looking at her with a softness in his eyes that wasn't usually there. She assumed her expression was something similar.

"But where to start," Ginny breathed. Then, she did something totally unexpected. She shot up and whipped around at Harry, a sudden anger in her eyes that shocked him. "Where to start, indeed! Harry Potter, I know it must've been hard for you being on the run, looking for those Horcruxes, but you don't know the HELL I've been through. The Carrows, they hated me, because I helped lead Dumbledore's Army. You can't even begin to imagine what they did to me," she whispered, shaking in anger.

Harry stared at her and opened his mouth to respond, but she interrupted, "And you LEFT me Harry! You left me alone there, because it was safer for me. It wasn't any safer than I would've been with you! I'm not a baby anymore. I don't need to be treated like one. Up until the end of my fifth year, Harry, I'd never really felt pain. Not even from Tom. No, I knew something was up with Tom when I kept blacking out and causing bad things to happen. But when you left me to the Carrows… that was pain, Harry, and I kept reliving it when Bellatrix tortured me."

Then she broke down, sobbing uncontrollably, and fell into Harry's arms. He held her and stroked her hair; allowing her to just let everything out, get the hurt she'd been feeling all year out of her system. He said softly, "I knew it was wrong to leave you, but it was just as right as it was wrong to me, Ginny. I couldn't stand it if you got hurt and I knew I could've helped. It was selfish, but I had to leave you. And I'm here now. You're here now. We're both alive. We're both safe."

Ginny nodded into his chest, crying her eyes dry and Ginny said, "We are. We're both safe. We got through it together, whether it seemed like it was together or not." And there, the two of them sat, tears escaping their eyes as they held each other, knowing that everything would be alright. They were both alive, and so were Ron and Hermione. They had all made it through the tough journey.

"I'll never have to leave you again, so I promise, I will never leave you again." Harry murmured and Ginny nodded, saying that she would return the favor silently. They both went inside then, promising to tell each other everything that happened to them while they were apart in the morning. Harry knew Ginny would have nightmares if she slept alone, so he walked her to the room he slept in, and together they lay on the bed, cuddling.

"I love you, Ginny," He whispered.

"I love you too, Harry," she responded.

And they were safe.

They were both safe.

Everyone was safe.

**Just a little something that I thought of off the top of my head. You guys don't have to review if you don't want to, it was just a little drabble.**

**England.**


End file.
